We looked at a challenging section of James, focusing on James 1:19-27. The overall instruction was to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. All of us have a strong tendency to be selfish. We get angry when we don't get what we want, and we can be slow to take correction. James encourages us to listen carefully to God's word and also to live it out in practical ways. It is not enough to hear the Bible or to read it. We need to live it out. We need to strive to love God and our brothers and sisters in Christ in practical ways. Have you stopped doing something in the past year due to teaching from God's word? Have you started something new in response to God's word lately? This should be common for us. Let's pray that God's word doesn't become some theoretical activity for us but one that makes us more like Jesus.

On Sunday morning, we celebrated the ordination and installation of Foong as a deacon in our church. We looked at Ephesians 4:1-16 together as we thought about what ministry in the local church is supposed to be like. The local church is a primary way that Christians are supposed to respond to the truth of the gospel. It is where we are united, we grow, and we serve. God gives leaders of various types to the church, but they are to equip us, not only to do the ministry themselves. The local church should be full of all kinds of Christians serving one another in all kinds of ways. This coming Sunday, ask different questions before coming to gather with others in the church service you attend. Ask how you can encourage others, or how you can serve those around you. God has given you gifts for the benefit of other people; let's use these gifts well for God's glory.

On Sunday morning, we started a new sermon series from the letter of James. James wrote to his readers who were having a hard time with exclusion for their faith and poverty. He encouraged them to see these trials as joy. Not because they were fun, but because they led to something worthwhile. All of us need difficult times to grow in our dependence on God. We are to ask God for wisdom. God doesn't promise us a smooth life, but he gives us the resources to grow and trust and persevere. We must watch out that we don't become bitter when life is hard. God doesn't work to make our lives hard; even in the difficult times, God helps us to understand who He is and what matters the most. God can be trusted, so talk to him in prayer about whatever is happening, even if you don't see a solution.

On Sunday morning, we looked at Psalm 41 together. David wrote this psalm while he was unwell with an illness that he might not recover from. He was abandoned by friends and had enemies plotting against him. Even in the midst of his isolation, he cried out to God. He knew God heard him and cared for him. We need to know that whatever happens to us, God loves us. We can bring anything to him in prayer. We can even praise in the middle of dark times. Popularity is not the aim in life; we should expect to be unpopular for our faith. Psalm 41 also pointed to Jesus who was the one truly abandoned by his friends. Jesus trusted his Father even in those times, dying and rising again for those who could not be faithful to him. God is far better to us than we deserve.

On Sunday morning, we looked at Psalm 40 together. While it sounds like all was going well for David, it was written in a hard time. When in deep trouble, he reflected on how God had saved him in the past. He recounted God's love for him, and told other people about it. Only then did he cry for God's help, realising that God getting the glory was the ultimate aim. This is a very practical psalm. It is easy for us to wallow in feeling bitter or angry at our circumstances. Yet Christians can always recall God's goodness and faithfulness to us in Jesus. Remembering this will help us approach our prayers in hard times with confidence. God loves us and has shown this to us. Let's be confident in what God will do for us in the future, and be keen to speak to others about what God has done.

On Christmas Day, we looked at the account of the magi who came to worship the newborn king Jesus. These odd men had seen a star and come from far away, at great expense in terms of money and time, to honour Jesus. Yet they encountered a local ruler who feared Jesus as a rival and religious people who knew about the Christ yet did not care for him. Jesus is the real king, yet a different king to what many expected. He came to rule everything not only a country, and he came to serve not to be served. We were challenged to consider how we are responding to such a king. Do we see Jesus as worthy of all we have, like the magi? Or is he a rival we'd like to get rid of, or perhaps someone we know of but don't care about?